The Denver Broncos have a growing list of starters on injured reserve that includes running back Javonte Williams, outside linebacker Randy Gregory, wide receiver Tim Patrick, right tackle Billy Turner, cornerback Ronald Darby, center Lloyd Cushenberry and long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer.
And several other starters who are not on IR have been unavailable in recent weeks with various injuries, including cornerback K’Waun Williams, offensive tackle Cam Fleming, outside linebacker Baron Browning, safety Justin Simmons and wide receiver KJ Hamler.
The Broncos have not played well this season and much of the blame falls on bad coaching and poor execution from players, but the injuries to key players can’t be ignored.
“We just got to fight,” running back Melvin Gordon said earlier this week. “I’m a fighter. The guys around me are fighters. You see how the defense is playing, they’re fighters. O-linemen getting hurt, guys coming in and fighting. It’s tough. It’s tough losing your left tackle, it’s tough losing your center. Your right tackle, losing the backup center. We’re losing guys left and right. We continue to fight and stay in games. Tennessee, I mean, their club is not one to play with. They’re a good football team.
“And with the amount of `guys going out, losing [Jerry] Jeudy, [but] there’s no excuses. We all get paid to go out there and win for this club. We’re coming up short, but we’re just going to have to fight because we’re dealing with injuries. We got the bug and that’s just what it is. We’re just going to have to persevere.”
Those injuries have played a large role in Denver starting the season with a 3-6 season. There’s still time for the Broncos to turn things around, but the team can’t afford to lose many more games.
“It sucks for us, honestly,” Gordon said. “We got a good football team and we’re just trying to battle with this and that. It just sucks because none of this was ideal. But we still got life. We still got time. Margin for error is very, very small, though. We can’t come up short anymore.”